Wobkey Rainy75 Review: So Much Keyboard For So Little Money!

The Wobkey Rainy75 is a gasket mount 75% keyboard with 2.4 GHz and Bluetooth Wireless, pre-lubed HMX Violet switches, double-shot PBT keycaps, RGB lighting, flex cuts, 1.2 mm PCB, Polypropylene flex cut plate, pre-lubed M-One stabilizers, an Aluminum case, bottom weight, and VIA compatibility. This board sems to tick every feature there is to have in a custom keyboard, all at a price that's extremely aggressive, so let's take the board apart and see what makes this board what it is, and see if there's any opportunities to explore!
Typing Tests are conducted through a Fifine Dynamic Mic run through USB-C to a USB-C front header on my PC case, captured through OBS. The mic is positioned at a distance of 6" from the home row with on-board gain maxed out, no adjustments made in OBS or in editing. The IXTech boom arm the mic is mounted to is positioned ~33" from the keyboard, and is insulated at the top and bottom of the clamp with a layer of acoustic foam and cardboard.
TO MAKE THE BOARD WORK WITH VIA:
First, download the JSON files from the woblab website listed on the instructions. From there, go to usevia.app and click on the "SETTINGS" icon in the top center cluster of icons. From there, turn on the option for "show Design tab". You should now see an extra "brush" icon in the top center of the screen. Click on that icon, then click "Load" next to "Load Draft Definition", and upload the correct JSON file for your model of Rainy75. If you find the board still can't connect to VIA, try a different JSON file: I had to try a few different ones before I found the one that was right for my board since the folders that describe them don't seem clear on that front.
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Wobkey Rany75 (Affiliate Link): mechanicalkeyboards.com/r?id=...
Wobkey website: www.wobkey.com/
TIME STAMPS
0:00 - Intro
0:32 - Pricing
1:04 - Exterior Design
2:12 - QC issue
2:33 - HMX Violet Linears
3:18 - Keycaps
3:40 - PP Plate lmao
4:03 - M-One Stabilizers
4:18 - Foams
4:42 - Stock Typing Test
5:26 - Foam Recommendations, PCB Design
5:50 - Dumb-bell Gaskets and Assembly Flex
6:23 - No Foam Typing Test
7:17 - Explainer: Case Foam Is The Way
7:45 - Typing Test: Case Foam and Bottom PTF Sheet
8:27 - Battery
8:51 - VIA compatible, mostly
9:18 - Kickstarter, tho...
10:16 - Closing Thought and Outro
Music provided by KZbin Audio Library
#customkeyboard #rainy75 #budget

[@MissKaityKatttv]

I love how in-depth you go!

[@TheManicGeek]

Thanks! I try to give enough info without disrespecting your time, especially with boards like these where, on the surface, this all seems "too good to be true."

[@MangoTangoFox]

I'd love to see a build of this going for as foamy as possible to see how it competes with the >2x the price Zoom75. Plate foams but NOT the PET sheet + Tape mod + polyfill (as it would likely be too tight with the stock case foam), and some more muted switches like Morandis.

[@TiffBreneman]

Thanks for the video!

[@JaredMaldonado]

Took a risk back in January/December and just got mine this week. Awesome keyboard

[@TheManicGeek]

Yeah, I'm happy to see they're actually being delivered! Really nice board for the money.

[@shyshy1894]

Me too! I’m glad I was able to get the pink one I got.

[@jammies701]

Nice vid mate

[@TheManicGeek]

🍻

[@vsChris]

Wish the standard version also came in the anodized black color

[@BogeyTrogs]

so i’m not very good with keyboards, on the first sound test that had your live chat open you did was it modded or was that just the keyboard right out of the box

[@MissKaityKatttv]

W/out the foam the pitch goes up as you go up from the home row, lol

[@jiwany]

Did anyone find the VIA json file?

[@YXY703]

does it support pcb stabs?

[@KeyboardSavant]

I'd like to remove the battery from this board and add another custom weight. I'm curious if the battery is glued to the interior space, or if any adhesive appeared on your sample unit?

[@vinhnguyen2002]

Just received my Rainy75, the battery is glued

[@tren7627]

Very nice review 👍🏼 I wonder if you know how much does it weighs packed as it comes

[@TheManicGeek]

Without any additional packaging, the packaged keyboard weighs in at exactly 2.4 kg on my scale. That includes all original packaging and all components of the keyboard.

[@tren7627]

Thank you very much!

[@Qichar]

Question, did you have to do anything to the spacebar to get it to sound like that? Every one of my custom keyboards has a spacebar that sounds hollow. However, in your video your spacebar sounds amazing. When you wrote "STOCK" on the screen, you really mean it, right?

[@TheManicGeek]

This board's spacebar just generally sounds pretty good regardless of the config. If I had to do anything special, it would have been noted.

[@alv3259]

great video! do you know if there's a Mac mode or switch like other keyboard?

[@TheManicGeek]

There's no dedicated Mac mode for this board, sadly, which means certain things with VIA may not register correctly on an Apple device using MacOS. I just hooked my board up to my iPad to test the keys, and it seems the only ones that don't do anything are Home, End, and possibly the F-keys unless they're dedicated media functions that only work on Desktop systems I can't test on a tablet.

[@alv3259]

@@TheManicGeek thank you for taking the time testing it out! appreciated it!!

[@satisfiedyt4184]

I want to buy this keyboard but dont know if i should opt for the regular of pro version. any tips?

[@TheManicGeek]

I can specifically punch for the standard model since that's the one I reviewed. I didn't get to try it with FR4 or the JWICK switches, though I will say that while JWICK switches are generally fine, the HMX Violets in my sample are among the nicest stock linears I've yet tried, including among JWICK switches, so if it were my purchase, I'd go with a Lite or Standard model. The Pro, to me, doesn't add anything substantive outside of the extra battery capacity, which you can easily add yourself after the fact with the correct battery, and two unique colors, with the switches and plate largely being a preference thing.

[@im_aprilalis]

I like thock sound but wanna try aluminum keyboard once. Is there anyway to make it more thock? I think it sounds poppy :) your vdo is impressive.

[@TheManicGeek]

If I wanted this to sound deeper, I'd use a deeper-sounding switch than the HMX Violets. I'd also remove all the PTF sheets from the board since those are emphasizing more of the high notes in the board, but keep the rest of the foams in place. If that ends up leaning a bit TOO deep, you could also grab the FR4 plate for this once its available and that should balance things out a bit.

[@im_aprilalis]

@@TheManicGeek wow! thank you for your kind suggestion!

[@exen900]

Soooo, no QMK source files I guess? Did you test if it works in USB C to C?

[@SyrFlora]

it via compatible but no QMK. It not fully implementation of via like keyboard that got QMK sources. that what i heard from mechtech keyboards channel. If I'm not mistaken some keyboard like GMK 75, GMK 87 from Zuoya (China manufacturer) also implemented this VIA communication compatible firmware but no QMK sources also.

[@Uglier.]

avatar last airbender hairline

[@TheManicGeek]

Uninspiring burn from someone with too much time on their hands

[@ParallelLiving]

@@TheManicGeekomg lmao 🤣

[@jdawg206A]

😂

[@pndrmre]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@Osamabr]

@@TheManicGeek😂😂

[@iRocz.]

How do i buy one tho i'm not sure about the Kickstarter

[@TheManicGeek]

They're fulfilling in April IIRC, so around that time will be when they go to in-stock status on the Wobkey website.

[@Grant740]

I can see this available on Wobkeys website, but do you know if it is still a preorder or is it now in stock?

[@TheManicGeek]

AFAIK it's in stock now, I've seen a LOT of folks taking delivery of their boards lately in the Discord.

[@Grant740]

@@TheManicGeek good to know, I wasn’t sure if I should order from wobkeys website or wait for it to be available on Drop, but if it is in stock and not preorder I might go through wobkey. Their website is just a bit confusing because it says in stock in some places and preorder in other places

[@BigZ69]

How long did your shipping take? I just ordered mine. Also how easy is it to install that case foam? Do I need to take all the switches off or no?

[@jakubm6004]

Did you receive your keyboard or still waiting for the delivery?

[@TheManicGeek]

Case foam isn't too bad to install, but it ships with it all installed so if that's how you wanted it anyway, then the board should basically be plug-and-play. The build section goes over the particulars with disassembly of the board.

[@BigZ69]

@@jakubm6004 still waiting. It is expected to ship in June

[@BigZ69]

@@TheManicGeek okay, and I assume the foam is the reason the board has so much flex? sorry its been awhile since ive watched the video

[@TheManicGeek]

@BigZ69 foam has nothing to do with flex, that's generated by the flex cuts in the PCB and the plate. If anything, foam kills flex in an assembly.

[@softmemoir]

Best episode of avatar by far

[@idkwhattoputhere5503]

When do they come in stock

[@TheManicGeek]

Indications are that pre-orders will be fulfilled by June-July-ish. Be sure to hop onto their Discord server for the latest updates on that front.

[@quepaso4262]

mine comes in june

[@TheManicGeek]

Hope you enjoy it as much as I have so far, it's a great board!

[@asustufa1515]

why that late?

[@quepaso4262]

@@asustufa1515 kickstarter preorder

[@francisfontaine637]

I saw this keyboard on Aliexpress from chinese sellers, Would you trust this ? Do you think it's overprice as well ?

[@TheManicGeek]

If you're in the States and don't want to go through an un-tested vendor, KeebsForAll just announced they were getting them in "soon tm", so maybe sign up for their email notifications and keep an eye on other vendors in the near future if you'd rather go that route?

[@francisfontaine637]

I'm from canada , not easy to get into that hobby when you live in this country as I can see. Most of website ship only in US... My second option is the HI75 that I can get on amazon but after watching a lot of video I find the rainy way more interesting.@@TheManicGeek

[@dannosaurowo7179]

This board is on stock on the wobkey website rn :3

[@francisfontaine637]

​@@dannosaurowo7179 Did you order one ?

[@eliasreverts4723]

Better than the zoom75?

[@TheManicGeek]

Haven't built one, so I can't comment on that.

[@schwanksational]

To bad your video is way to dark :(

[@shyshy1894]

It looks fine to me :)